AN ACT to
amend and reenact §5F-2-1, of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended; to amend and reenact §10-5-1, §10-5-2, §10-
5-3 and §10-5-4 of said code; and to amend said code by adding
thereto a new section, designated §10-5-6, all relating
generally to organization and authority of executive branch
agencies and departments; relating to the educational
broadcasting authority; modifying organizational structure;
declaring legislative findings; deleting outdated language;
authorizing the authority and its employees to work with
certain private nonprofit corporations; authorizing the use of
the authority's property and facilities for fundraising
purposes; authorizing the authority to solicit funds for the
support of public broadcasting; requiring memoranda of
understanding; and providing exemption from disclosure for
names of private donors.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §5F-2-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted; that §10-5-1, §10-5-2, §10-5-3 and §10-5-
4 of said code be amended and reenacted; and that said code be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §10-5-6, all to
read as follows:

CHAPTER 5F. REORGANIZATION OF THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH OF STATE
GOVERNMENT.

ARTICLE 2. TRANSFER OF AGENCIES AND BOARDS.

§5F-2-1. Transfer and incorporation of agencies and boards; funds.

(a) The following agencies and boards, including all of the
allied, advisory, affiliated or related entities and funds
associated with any agency or board, are incorporated in and
administered as a part of the Department of Administration:

(1) Building Commission provided in article six, chapter five
of this code;

(2) Public Employees Insurance Agency provided in article
sixteen, chapter five of this code;

(b) The following agencies and boards, including all of the
allied, advisory, affiliated or related entities and funds
associated with any agency or board, are incorporated in and
administered as a part of the Department of Commerce:

(1) Division of Labor provided in article one, chapter
twenty-one of this code, which includes:

(c) The Economic Development Authority provided in article
fifteen, chapter thirty-one of this code is continued as an
independent agency within the executive branch.

(d) The Water Development Authority and the Water Development
Authority Board provided in article one, chapter twenty-two-c of
this code is continued as an independent agency within the
executive branch.

(e) The following agencies and boards, including all of the
allied, advisory and affiliated entities, are transferred to the
Department of Environmental Protection for purposes of
administrative support and liaison with the office of the Governor:

(1) Air Quality Board provided in article two, chapter
twenty-two-b of this code;

(f) The following agencies and boards, including all of the
allied, advisory, affiliated or related entities and funds
associated with any agency or board, are incorporated in and
administered as a part of the Department of Education and the Arts:

(g) The Educational Broadcasting Authority provided in article
five, chapter ten of this code, is part of the Department of
Education and the Arts for purposes of administrative support and
liaison with the office of the Governor.

(h) The following agencies and boards, including all of the
allied, advisory, affiliated or related entities and funds
associated with any agency or board, are incorporated in and
administered as a part of the Department of Health and Human
Resources:

(1) Human Rights Commission provided in article eleven,
chapter five of this code;

(7) Women's Commission provided in article twenty, chapter
twenty-nine of this code; and

(8) The Child Support Enforcement Division provided in chapter
forty-eight of this code.

(i) The following agencies and boards, including all of the
allied, advisory, affiliated or related entities and funds
associated with any agency or board, are incorporated in and
administered as a part of the Department of Military Affairs and
Public Safety:

(11) Board of Probation and Parole provided in article twelve,
chapter sixty-two of this code.

(j) The following agencies and boards, including all of the
allied, advisory, affiliated or related entities and funds
associated with any agency or board, are incorporated in and
administered as a part of the Department of Revenue:

(6) State Rail Authority provided in article eighteen, chapter
twenty-nine of this code; and

(7) Public Port Authority provided in article sixteen-b,
chapter seventeen of this code.

(l) The Veterans' Council provided in article one, chapter
nine-a of this code, including all of the allied, advisory,
affiliated or related entities and funds associated with it is,
incorporated in and administered as part of the Department of
Veteran's Assistance.

(m) Except for powers, authority and duties that have been
delegated to the secretaries of the departments by the provisions
of section two of this article, the position of administrator and
the powers, authority and duties of each administrator and agency

are not affected by the enactment of this chapter.

(n) Except for powers, authority and duties that have been
delegated to the secretaries of the departments by the provisions
of section two of this article, the existence, powers, authority
and duties of boards and the membership, terms and qualifications
of members of the boards are not affected by the enactment of this
chapter. All boards that are appellate bodies or are independent
decision makers shall not have their appellate or independent
decision-making status affected by the enactment of this chapter.

(o) Any department previously transferred to and incorporated
in a department by prior enactment of this section means a division
of the appropriate department. Wherever reference is made to any
department transferred to and incorporated in a department created
in section two, article one of this chapter, the reference means a
division of the appropriate department and any reference to a
division of a department so transferred and incorporated means a
section of the appropriate division of the department.

(p) When an agency, board or commission is transferred under
a bureau or agency other than a department headed by a secretary
pursuant to this section, that transfer is solely for purposes of
administrative support and liaison with the Office of the Governor,
a department secretary or a bureau. Nothing in this section
extends the powers of department secretaries under section two of
this article to any person other than a department secretary and
nothing limits or abridges the statutory powers and duties of

(1) It is the duty of this state to provide the best
educational training possible for all its citizens;

(2) The encouragement and use of noncommercial educational
radio, television and related media operating and originating from
educational broadcasting, closed circuit or related facilities
located at a site or sites within this state serving all the
citizens of this state on a regional basis or as part of a
coordinated statewide plan is a proper, necessary and beneficial
means of providing and extending enriched educational instruction
to all the citizens of this state at the preschool, elementary,
secondary and higher education and adult levels;

(3) Private nonprofit corporations have been established in
this state for the sole purpose of raising funds for the financial
support of the state's Public Broadcasting Network, which funds
have been a vital source of private funding for the authority and
enure to the benefit of all the citizens of the state; and

(4) Because of the unique educational benefit conferred upon

and available to all the citizens of the state by the efforts of
the authority and the private nonprofit corporations established
for the sole purpose of providing support for public broadcasting
in this state, authorizing the authority to allow its employees to
work with, and its property and facilities to be used by, the
private nonprofit corporations is a proper, necessary and
beneficial means of providing financial support for the state's
Public Broadcasting Network.

(b) The following terms have the following meanings:

(1) "Authority" means the Educational Broadcasting Authority
established by the provisions of this article.

(2) "Distance learning" means educational courses, seminars,
programs and teleconferences transmitted electronically and
designed to instruct students who are remote from the instructor or
other participants; such courses, seminars, programs and
teleconferences may constitute all or a significant portion of a
class offered for college or public school credit, or they may be
provided for faculty development, continuing professional
education, for training employees of governmental agencies,
nonprofit organizations, business or industry;

(3) "EdNet" means those individuals identified as an
enterprise of the university of West Virginia college of graduate
studies and West Virginia state college on behalf of the state
college and university systems who are delegated the responsibility
for developing, operating and maintaining facilities for the

production and transmission of distance learning; and

(4) "SatNet" means those individuals identified as an
enterprise of the state college and university systems who are
delegated the responsibility for developing and providing distance
learning.

(a) The West Virginia Educational Broadcasting Authority is
continued as a public benefit corporation. The Authority shall
consist of eleven voting members, who shall be residents of the
state, including:
(1) The Governor or designee;
(2) The State Superintendent of Schools;
(3) One member of the West Virginia Board of Education to be
selected by it annually;
(4) One member of the West Virginia Higher Education Policy
Commission to be selected by it annually; and
(5) Seven members appointed by the Governor by and with the
advice and consent of the Senate for overlapping terms of seven
years, one term expiring each year.
(b) Not less than one appointive member shall come from each
congressional district. Any vacancy among the appointed members
shall be filled by the Governor by appointment for the unexpired term.
(c) Employees of noncommercial broadcasting stations in West
Virginia are not eligible for appointment to the Authority.
(d) The authority shall annually select a member to serve as
the chair. The authority shall annually select one of its public
members as vice chair and shall appoint a secretary who need not be
a member of the Authority and who shall keep records of its
proceedings.
(e) The authority shall appoint the executive director and fix
his or her salary. The executive director is responsible for
managing and administering the daily functions of the authority and
for performing all other functions necessary to the effective
operation of the authority. The authority is authorized to
establish offices for the proper performance of its duties.
(f) The authority shall hold at least one annual meeting. The
time and place of the meetings shall be established upon its own
resolution or at the call of the chairperson of the authority. The
members shall serve without compensation but may be reimbursed for
all reasonable and necessary expenses actually incurred in the
performance of their duties in a manner consistent with the
guidelines of the Travel Management Office of the Department of
Administration.§10-5-3. Powers of authority.

The authority shall have the power:

(1) To act as advisor and consultant to television and radio stations concerning noncommercial educational programs supported by
federal, state, county, city or private funds;
(2) To cooperate with and assist all local and state
educational institutions in planning and development of the use of
educational radio, television and related media;
(3) To promote and coordinate the use of these media for
noncommercial educational purposes;
(4) To construct, maintain and operate educational
broadcasting, closed circuit or related facilities located at a
suitable site or sites within this state including, without
limitation thereby, production centers, broadcasting stations and
an audio-video microwave system for a statewide broadcasting
network connecting such communities or stations as may be
designated by the authority;
(5) To acquire in the name of the state for the use and
benefit of the authority by purchase, lease or agreement, any
property, both real and personal, and any interest in such property
necessary to carry out the provisions of this article;
(6) To apply for and receive any license from the appropriate
federal agency necessary to operate any educational broadcasting,
closed circuit or related facility;
(7) To supervise and approve the origination and transmission
of all noncommercial educational radio, television and related
media programs in this state which would be carried through the
facilities of a state network;
(8) To employ such personnel as may be necessary to operate
and maintain any facility created under the provisions of this
article, and to work with private nonprofit corporations to raise
funds for the financial support of the state's public broadcasting
network;
(9) To lease from communications common carriers and use such
transmission channels as may be necessary or, if it determines it
could more economically construct and maintain such transmission
channels, it may design, construct, maintain and operate the same,
including an audio-video microwave network;
(10) To sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded;
(11) To contract and be contracted with, including the power
to enter into contracts with any person, firm or corporation,
including any like authority of neighboring states; and shall have
the authority, within state regulations, to enter into program
royalty and distribution contracts and receive moneys for these
purposes: Provided, That any proceeds from such contracts shall be
used by the authority for noncommercial purposes only;
(12) To have and use a corporate seal;
(13) To promulgate reasonable rules and regulations to carry
out the provisions of this article in accordance with the
provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of the code, and
(14) To perform such other services in behalf of noncommercial
educational radio, television and related media as it may consider
to be in the best interest of the state, including the use of the authority's employees, property and facilities for the purpose of
raising funds for the support of public broadcasting.

§10-5-4. Funds; right of state agencies, etc., to contribute to
authority.

(a) The authority may solicit, apply for and receive
appropriations, gifts, bequests or grants from any agency of the
United States government, any agency of the State of West Virginia,
any municipality or county within this state, any school board or
college or university supported in whole or in part by this state
or any other person, firm, partnership, association or corporation,
within or without this state, and any agency of the State of West
Virginia, any municipality or county within this state, or any
school board or college or university supported in whole or in part
by this state is hereby authorized and empowered to make
appropriations or grants to the authority, to assist in achieving
the public purpose of the authority.
(b) All such funds shall be deposited with the State
Treasurer of West Virginia or with a private nonprofit corporation
established for the sole purpose of providing support for public
broadcasting in this state which has entered into a memorandum of
understanding with the authority pursuant to the provisions of
section six of this article, and used exclusively for carrying out
the provisions of this article: Provided, That any appropriations,
gifts, bequests or grants received by the authority with any restriction or restrictions on the use thereof shall be expended by
the authority in accordance with such restriction or restrictions.§10-5-6. Cooperation with private nonprofit corporations.
(a) In furtherance of its mission and fulfillment of its
duties, the authority is expressly authorized to allow its
employees to work with, and its property and facilities to be used
by, private nonprofit corporations established for the sole purpose
of providing support for public broadcasting in this state.
(b) To document the implementation of subsection (a) of this
section, the authority shall enter into memoranda of understanding
with private nonprofit corporations established for the sole
purpose of providing support for public broadcasting in this state,
to delineate the rights and responsibilities of the parties.
(c) Notwithstanding any provision in this code to the
contrary, the names of individual donors to the authority or to a
private nonprofit corporation established for the sole purpose of
providing support for public broadcasting in this state are not
subject to the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-b of this code.